Books • Free Love

I became aware of the modern feminist movement in the 60s and some of the activists became my lovers and friends. Many are still my friends. Like other men I observed it sympathetically,
sometimes with irritation, sometimes with discomfort.
I became a feminist because when challenged to think about it, there was no rational alternative. How deep this went is difficult for one to assess, so I will leave that question to others.
“Free Love” came into my head after watching many men assume the role of aggressive feminists, fighting the cause shoulder to shoulder with women, the better to get close to them. It was all a front. They remained as unreconstructed as ever: cold seducers playing with the feelings of others. Merely using those they were standing should to shoulder with, playing with their feelings, they were not true comrades.
I began to think of the difficulties the modern assertiveness of women had thrown up, for women as well as men, and the adjustments it demanded. Everyone seemed to be asking what is my role? How should I play it? Are my feelings just culturally determined, backward and incorrect?
It was no longer a question of fitting in to the role society had cast you to play. One had to invent oneself in a culturally shifting world.
The people in Free Love are such people, astray and looking for identity.